SYMONDS John B Abt 1805 Oxenhall (General)

by unknown, Wednesday, November 23, 2011, 22:41 (2094 days ago)

First time doing this. Could anyone please assist with any info on John Symonds .
I have found John and his wife Martha maiden name unknown in the 1851 census
Unfortuatly I cannot seems to find any birth records for either John or Martha.
Any help wold be greatly appreciated
Lynne

SYMONDS John B Abt 1805 Oxenhall

Good evening Lynne, welcome to this great website & forum.
You can search the huge database quite easily from the Parish Records "button" on the blue menu bar across the top of the screen. When searching at first keep it vague without inputting too much info; better to see everything thats a "maybe" rather than inadvertantly filter out the "probables". I've searched for all records for "John Symonds" but have entered your "1805" date plus/minus 5 years. I've also ticked the "SOundex" box to help give spelling variations, although this isn't always as effective as it could be. This still gives 18 PRs to consider !

Never assume the dates given from Censuses are very accurate, they only recorded what the people believed or wanted to believe, lady's ages are particularly "vague"..

Anyhow from those 18 this looks a possible, although no second name so not sure about the B.

Now to find a Marriage.
Assume he's 20 years older, search again but using the date "1837" plus/minus 5 years, and the Marriage Filter. However for some reason this hasnt found a likely Marriage. A few months ago I'd have just searched again but assumed age "1847". Then I "discovered" the rather clever Advanced Search feature.
If you look towards the bottom of the Parish Records search page you'll see "Advanced search". Click this to change page. Select "Marriage" from the dropdown menu and hit return to load the Marriages page. Now click "search".
By entering "John" and "Martha" in you'll get all those Marriage combinations in the database, possibly too large but I ALWAYS think better & safer to start wide then narrow the search.

This gives a list of 261 Marriage Records !. Select "100" results from dropdown menu to give a large table. Click on the heading "Year", this will sort them chronologically. Scan thro the tables to wards the 1830s results looking for Symonds. When you see a likely result click onto the lefthandmost "page" icon to give the full details. Alternatively click on any heading, for example Groom's Surname and it will be sorted in alphabetical order that way.

This way, and thankfully for us, you'll find the single only possible "Symonds" in the whole set of results:

So again the Soundex system, albeit usefull, has proven to not work too well. Hence my preference wherever practical for not using it, I tend to only apply methodical date limits then look at all the possibles within that dateband, before moving onto the next say 20 years dateband. Names were often spelt vary "oddly" to put it mildy !

The Advanced Search feature is really useful and very effective with practice.

This may be Martha's Baptism, certainly the most likely from the Forest PRs rather than Gloucester-way. Shame no clues as to parent's on the Marriage Record:

Finally, please also search this forum itself, often others have already researched "your" subject. Also please look at the rest of the site, theres a huge amount of other resources freely available, such as old documents (Wills, Inquests), E-Books, newpaper clippings, photos, maps etc etc.
Hopefully this sounds reasonable to you ?.
Of course the more time you spend searching the PRs the easier it becomes.

SYMONDS John B Abt 1805 Oxenhall

Thank you very much for all your help. The information given look likeexcellent matches
Your tips are I am sure will be invaluable in future investigations.
I am most grateful for all your help.
I am going to try and track down John & Matha's parents on my own using your tips.
Thank you again for your very kind assistance
Warmest Regards
Lynne

1841 Census Dymock, Gloucestershire - SYMONDS

Hello Fellow seekers
I am making good progress thank you all for your in put
I am hoping someone could help me once again with details on Ellen or Ellin Symonds
Daughter of John & Matha born Abt 1838 Pendock I cannot find any baptism records for her
With matching parents ?
As far as I know she did not marry but had a son William born 1866
I believe she died Abt 1897 is buried at Newent.
Any assistance will be much appreciated
Thank you all for help given so far
Lynne

1841 Census Dymock, Gloucestershire - SYMONDS

Hi again Lynne,
glad to hear you're making good progress, well done !. I love a challenge particularly from someone so polite !
I've searched hi & lo thro the Baptisms database for all areas between 1836 & 1840, entering just "El" for first name & "S%" for surname, (yes you can input abbreviated names, but use % as wildcard in surnames), but sadly no luck.
Tried other sites too, still nowt.
Thinking laterally, looked up William, guess this is him ?:

Have thoroughly (I think..) searched this site plus GlosBMD and FreeBMD, trying all spelling variations of Symonds and Helen/Ellen I can think of, but unable to find either Baptism or Burial Records in any North Forest location at all...?

Please can you check and advise your thinking for the dates and places you've quoted, somethings not adding up here (probably me but..).
Thanks Lynne, sorry not much help, but we'll get there !

1841 Census Dymock, Gloucestershire - SYMONDS

Thank you again for all your help. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of spare time
to do my research, so the going has been a little slow.
I have been using the census index , but I cannot figure out how to look at the records. Could anyone please advise ? I'm a bit dim sometimes.

With help from you I have tracked down some ancestors to Johns Symonds'wife Martha but need to try a do a little more research to try and verify more accuratly.

One more favour please could you advise on records of deaths.
I cannot find any record of burial or death for John Symonds B 1807 Oxenhall.

On the question of Ellen or Ellin or Helen Born 1838 Dymock / Pendock area I believe.
I cannot find any records of her after 1866 -which is after the birth of her ïllegitimate son Willliam born 1866 Culvert St Newent. Although I have some info that she died age 59 and is burried at Newent, (Not sure this is useful) - I have grave number 693- 6A 183 Maid QTR? her mother Martha and one of granchildren also a William who died at 10 months are burried in the same grave.

As to Ellen's William seems he was a boarder with the Jones Family from at least
age 5 until he married. (census records ancestry.com)
I wonder if his mother Ellen left the area after his birth?
But then to be buried at Newent makes me think she probably lived her whole life in
the area but then why no records.
I am presently living in South Africa so all my research has to be done online.
So any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

Ellen Symonds - Born abt 1838 Pendock - ???

I have a copy of the Birth Certificate of William Symonds, son of Ellen Symonds
However, it only shows that Helen was living Culvert St Newent at the time of his birth.
According to Ancestry Census 1851 she was living with her family in Dymock -
she was born in Pendock
I cannot find any birth record of for her - I do not believe she ever married
I have some info given by family saying both Ellen and her Mother Martha are buried at Newent. However once again cannot seem to find any burial records for
John - her Father, Martha9nee Taylor) her mother of Ellen herself ?
Frustrating
Any futher suggestions would be appreciated

John Simons - Born abt 1801 - Buried 1866 Dymock

Hi again Lynne,
hope you're warmer in SA than it is here in very cold Middlesex, if this is the May Bank Holiday then rollon Christmas !?!
Glad you've been having success with your hunt, I used to think my Jones surname was a pain to search but the variants of Symmonds ad infinitum have made me believe maybe there is safety in numbers instead !

Using this site's Advanced Search for baptisms I've looked at all those with parents surname starting with "S" and parent's names starting "J" & "M".
Sadly no hint at all for Helen/Ellen's Baptism, sorry to say !!

Using same system for "Burials" for "Jo%" & "S%" and ">1861"", hopefully to find all spelling variations of John & Symmonds from 1861, only search upwards until 1871 (as he died between these dates judging from Census evidence on earlier posts),